By Olugbenga Ige

A Kaduna-based Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, has said Niger Delta militants aren’t kidnapping their families and members of their communities because they are all armed in the creeks.

Gumi said bandits, who are mostly herdsmen, are kidnapping their families and members of their communities in the North because they believe that they are conspiring with security agents to fight them.

Speaking in a recent interview with Nigeria Info FM, the controversial cleric said bandits are marginalised Nigerians, who have no access to education, health, good water, or other social amenities.

Gumi said the federal government must grant bandits amnesty just like the Umaru Yar’Adua administration did for the militants in the Niger Delta region for peace to return to the North.

The controversial cleric reiterated that bandits are also fighting for a cause like militants who were angry because the government neglected their oil-rich region, where the country generates the bulk of its revenue.

Gumi said: “The reason is because they are all armed; they are all armed in the creeks.”